Always Be Closing

For someone whose job it is to sell college football, the last two months have truly represented the dog days of summer. Decision-makers were on vacation, afternoon temperatures rarely dropped below 100 degrees and there wasn’t any college football news except for the occasional ESPN ticker reporting possible recruiting violations. When you coupled this with a challenging economy, I turned to two things to help me stay motivated.

First, I replayed Alec Baldwin’s movie stealing scene from “Glengarry Glen Ross”, a 1992 film adaptation of David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize winning play. Baldwin’s character is brought in to motivate a group of downtrodden real estate salesman who blame their poor sales results on the lack of quality leads.

The seven minute scene features realistic (read: R-rated) language, but it’s so well done I know several local companies who play it abusive language and all for their new sales hires. The clip is available by clicking here. While I usually forget even the best movie lines the moment I walk out of the theater doors, I can somehow recall all of Baldwin’s speech. Lines like “Put that coffee down. Coffee’s for closers only.” and “Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you’re fired!” are part of my regular vernacular.

One reason Baldwin’s tirade is motivational to me is because it contrasts so greatly with the real life sales pep talks I have received. Even though almost 20 years have passed, I still remember the sales manager at the Missions waving a stack of index cards as bait to close some new business at the start of our January sales season. He said, “For every new sale you make by cold calling from the phonebook, I will give you one of these hot leads. Since other organizations start the year calling on companies from the phonebook in alphabetical order, we will have an advantage because we’ll work from Z to A.” I quickly discovered “reverse alphabetical” cold calling does not equal sales genius.

A better real life motivator for me is a closer by the name of Frances. I have never met her, but I know her sales skills first hand. She works for the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center and has been soliciting me to donate blood for the last four years. Here are some things I have learned from her:

Don’t complicate things: She calls with a simple request. “Hi Rick, this is Frances from the Blood Bank. Can I schedule you for an appointment?”

Believe in the product: In talking with Frances, I know she believes in the work the Blood Bank is doing to the point that if I don’t help, I’ll feel like I’m letting the whole community down. “Rick, blood levels are low. Summer is a tough time with everyone on vacations.”

Tireless: You can tell when a salesperson is going through the motions and can easily be brushed off. That’s not the case with Frances. She is going to call back regardless of whatever objections I throw out. “Oh really, you can’t help right now. We really need your support. How about I call you later in the month?” Or she drops the dreaded “When are you available?” as it’s pretty hard for me to respond never.

Ask for the sale: During the heat of football season, I’ve tried to plead my case about how busy I am to no avail. Short of lying to her with some high risk behaviors such as, “I can’t do it because I’m backpacking through undeveloped African countries with a group of recovering drug-addicts who were recently released from prison” I can’t shake her off her game. She always gets the appointment or a time when she can call me back.

As a way to thank Frances for motivating me to be a better salesman, I want to “ask for the sale” in hope you will consider donating blood. If you are in the San Antonio area, click here for more information from the South Texas Blood and Tissue Center website or visit them on Twitter. If Rick Reilly’s readers can send $1 million dollars when he requested money for anti-malaria bed nets in a 2006Sports Illustrated column he wrote, don’t you think I could get an extra 4-5 people to donate blood this week with this blog?

If you’re asking “what’s in it for me,” here are some things to note:

Free mini-physical: At each visit they’ll let you know your temperature, pulse, iron level and blood pressure. Within three weeks, you’ll also get a letter with blood type information and cholesterol levels (note to self: take it easy on the fish sticks and French fries).

Free movies: My visits always take less than an hour and the time flies by if you choose one of the 70 movies they have on DVD with a couple of important exceptions. Time will stand still if you pick “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” or the unbelievably awful “Tango & Cash.”

Free stuff: While my albino arms peppered with random black hairs don’t look great in Blood Bank logoed tank tops, I have been given some cool t-shirts through the years. Last week, I received a beach towel and a $20 HEB gift card as a multiple donor reward. Turns out that Tim Duncan was right all along – fully cooked meats indeed!

Free food: After donating blood, you can satisfy your salty snack fix in their “kitchen.” I typically go for the Ritz Bits/Nutri-Grain Bar/Famous Amos cookies trio before hitting their MTV “Cribs” style refrigerator filled with juice, bottled water and Gatorade. Don’t tell anyone, but the beach towel makes for a good shield if you want to sneak a couple extra Gatorades for the road.

Free pass from work: Do you think your co-workers will bust your chops for coming in late? I just point to my lime green arm bandage and tell them my donation saved three lives today. If you’re prone to oversleeping, I’d recommend keeping some extra fluorescent bandages in your glove box as a ready made excuse.

Plays well with the ladies: “You know, some might call me a hero for donating blood. To me, I’m just a normal guy doing what I hope all good men do.”

Thankfully teams are back on the practice field today which means I’m that much closer to filling up my DVR with college football and Alec Baldwin (via 30 Rock) as well as receiving my next call from Frances.